Latest news

NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC Week is an important opportunity for us, as a College, to recognise and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage. 

As the official dates take place in the school holidays, we are marking the occasion this week with a series of events organised by the SMC First Nations group, including student-led cultural tours, lunchtime music and a special morning tea for our First Nations community. 

Colours of Country 

Tomorrow (Thursday 4 July) students are invited to wear a touch of red, black, yellow, green, blue and white to commemorate the colours of our country and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. 

Exploring indigenous culture 

Across the Junior School, students are learning about the history and significance of NAIDOC Week by participating in engaging class discussions and hands-on art activities. 

Students can browse a fantastic assortment of books by Aboriginal authors and illustrators on display in the Student Resource Centre, while those keen to sample some bush tucker delicacies can do so at Murphy's Café (kipli), where special menu items are available for purchase during the week. 

Items range from French toast with leatherwood honey and bacon and wattleseed caramel lattes to wallaby burgers, wallaby kofta with potato and tzatziki, and warrigal watercress, potato and leatherwood honey soup. 

Well done to the First Nations students who have been volunteering in the Café this week to help Mr Phil Shanny and his team cook up a storm! 

NAIDOC Gathering 

Our NAIDOC celebrations will culminate in a whole school gathering tomorrow (Thursday 4 July) in the Nagle Centre, where First Nations students will share parts of their culture with students and staff. Our College will also hear from Palawa Elder of Tasmania, Uncle Rodney Dillon who will talk about this year's NAIDOC theme and what it means to him. 

Following the gathering, our First Nations families will enjoy a morning tea in the milangkani room. 

Refugee Week

St Mary's College celebrated Refugee Week from Monday 17 June – Friday 21 June with the theme of 'Finding Freedom: Family', which encapsulates a refugee's profound journey of resilience, strength, and unity. 

Refugee Week seeks to promote greater awareness of refugees, the issues they face and highlights the positive contributions they make to the Australian community. 

Pictured above: Following a prayer service and assembly, Junior School students participated in a colouring-in activity that invited them to reflect on their understanding of unity while learning about the flags and maps of different countries around the world. 

Year 9 Retreat: People on a Journey 

Last week, the first class of Year 9s travelled to Richmond for their Year 9 'People on a Journey' retreat. With a focus on pilgrimage, the students were invited to reflect on their own journey of life so far as they walked in the footsteps of the Presentation Sisters, who first arrived in Richmond in 1866 while they waited for the buildings at St Mary’s College to be completed. 

The students were privileged to hear from Leanne Prichard, who shared her experience walking the Camino in Spain – an 800km pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella. While on site at Richmond, students carried a rock – symbolic of a burden in their life, which they placed at the foot of the cross near the Church of St John's. That cross is marked with a plaque that commemorates the Sisters and their time in the village. 

The group also had the opportunity to visit the old schoolhouse next to the Church in which the Sisters used to teach, and they sat in the pews in the church where the Sisters would have prayed. The retreat was a wonderful experience for these students to share together. 

The remaining four Year 9 classes will complete their retreats over the next few months.

Sharon Lawler

Director of Identity and Mission

Poetry in Action 

Last Wednesday 26 June, the Year 7s had the pleasure of watching Sydney based theatre company ‘Poetry in Action’ perform for them. The entertaining performance presented a humorous, dynamic and thrilling perspective on poetry and literature. 

The poetic works ranged from Wilfred Owen to the Tempest and conveyed an appreciation of poetry, familiarity with poetic techniques and an enthusiasm for using poetry as a valuable form of self-expression.

SMC's School of Rock

Explosive riffs, electrifying covers and powerful vocals rocked St Peter's Hall during lunchtime last Thursday for the annual Battle of the Bands showdown. 

The friendly competition saw student bands and solo musicians in Year 8 become rock stars for a day as they took to the stage to perform their acts in front of a packed audience of senior students and staff.

 It was fantastic to see our student musicians enjoying the opportunity to express their creativity and entertain their peers. Well done to all involved! 

Legal Studies guest speaker

Last Friday 28 June, the St Mary's College and St Virgil’s College Legal Studies classes were fortunate to have Tim McCormack, Professor of International Law at the University of Tasmania – and Special Adviser on War Crimes to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague – give a talk on International Law with a focus on the current Gaza conflict. 

We are truly thankful to Tim in developing a genuine rapport with our students as well as sharing his wealth of knowledge, experience and insights.

Ethics Olympiad strikes gold

The following article was written by Emily Yan, Mia Wanandy, Harper Bowerman, Sylvie Gundry and Lottie Zabel, of the winning Year 5 Ethics Olympiad team. 

On Wednesday 19 June we represented St Mary's College in a Year 5/6 Ethics Olympiad with teams across Australia and New Zealand. We were the only team from Tasmania to compete in this competition. Some questions we had to consider and answer were: 

1. What rights do you think all people should have? Are there times when people should lose these rights?
2. Is there such a thing as a bad idea? Can bad ideas become great ideas.
3. Was Anita acting unethically by making, posting and considering selling the Broken Sunset?

Question three was our favourite as it came from a case about artificial intelligence. Anita used AI to create an artwork, however, it included elements from two other artists’ work. There was a lot to discuss about the rights and wrongs of this situation. 

We enjoyed working with other schools to find solutions to ethical issues and hearing other people’s perspectives and feedback on our arguments. 

Thank you to Ava Schultz (Year 11) for giving us advice and answering our many questions. Thank you also to Mrs Noble for preparing us for this competition. It was our first time participating in the Ethics Olympiad, so we were surprised and excited to find out we came first and won gold medals. 

Kinder fire safety presentation 

Our Kinders were thrilled to receive a special visit from Firefighter Todd from the Tasmania Fire Service last week as part of their learning unit on people in the community who help keep us safe. 

Todd generously shared his knowledge about firefighting, fire safety and the importance of wearing the right uniform. The students were enthusiastic and inquisitive, asking thoughtful questions and gaining valuable insights into what they should do in an emergency fire situation, including calling triple zero. 

A highlight from the visit was trying on some firefighting gear and getting a first-hand look at breathing masks and fire equipment.

We thank Todd for taking the time to visit and inspire the next generation of community heroes

SMC Chess Club

Our Junior Chess Program, run by Black Square Chess, has been a huge success this term!

Chess Club will be up and running again in Term 3, and we would like to invite any interested families to sign up. Please refer to the flyer included below for more details. 

Spotlight on career experience

Sophie Robinson and Ireland McPherson (Year 10) completed a two-day placement at Hobart Airport, gaining a deeper insight into the exciting world of airport operations while developing their employability skills. Sophie and Ireland discovered the endless career opportunities available in the field of airport operations and even tried their hand at creating content for the airport's social media channels. 

Seisia Myler (Year 12) completed a weeklong placement at Collegiate, where she worked closely with educators in Years 5/6. This experience has solidified her interest in pursuing a career in teaching or supporting education. 

Paige Kremmer (Year 12) spent three insightful days at Ukiyo Hair in Hobart, gaining a firsthand look at the bustling life of a hairdresser and salon owner. 

Georgia Thurling (Year 10) had a fantastic weeklong experience at The Hutchins School, specifically in their Middle Years Library. With a strong passion for education and a love for books and words, Georgia is considering a future career in both teaching and related fields involving literature. 

Benvenuto, amici! 

We have recently welcomed two exchange students to our community! 

World travellers at just 17 and 18 years of age, Cristina and Giovanni have come to St Mary's College from Italy to experience life as Year 12 students in Australia as they study the English language. 

Cristina and Giovanni both attend Liceo Andrea Maffei, a high school in Riva del Gardo (in the Italian province of Trento). Please greet our special amici (friends) with a warm 'ciao' if you see them around the Senior School.